Explain to people Outside, or even in Whitehorse, that 30 new mothers a year are choosing Dawson City to raise their first born, and those are often the points that are raised.

“Isn’t it cold and dark?”

“I understand you have to drive six hours to give birth?”

“How can there be any support when you live so far away from the city?”

At times, this can all be true for new parents who choose to raise their children in the Klondike.

Close family is often thousands of kilometres away, money is tight for some and a pin can be heard dropping in the snow on January nights when the temperature dips below -30C.

That’s when the federal Canadian Pre-Natal Nutrition Program — and its off-shoot programs — is available to help.

Patricia Greer has worked for two years as the program co-ordinator for Dawson’s CPNP program.

In that time, she has seen almost 60 families use the program for pre- and post-natal support.

“The objective is to offer support for women and their partners and families during pregnancy and making healthy family choices up to one year after the baby is born,” she said in an interview, recently.

This support is available at four levels: physical, emotional, mental and financial.

An outreach worker will go into a new mother’s home and provide physical services including short-term babysitting, meal preparation or light housekeeping up to two hours a week.

That’s a little help just to give new moms a break, says CPNP outreach worker Brandi Bassett.

“I usually go in, get comfortable with the parents, talk to them a little bit, and get to know them and their child.

“Once they are comfortable, generally they leave the house and I stay with the baby and care for the child. If I have any time, I do housekeeping or help with whatever is going on that day for the family.”

This support can lead to the next level of help: mental and emotional care for the new mom, who may simply need someone to talk to, said Greer.

“Emotionally, we are here for them for anything we can help them with. If they just need someone to talk to, it’s a confidential program so nothing leaves here.”

Some new parents do not need in-home help, but just need questions answered. That is when the CPNP library can be helpful.

“We have a great resource library of videos and books just to help them with their pregnancy, giving birth and rearing other children.

“We also do research for the moms for anything they don’t have time to do.”

For single moms, or families that are struggling to make ends meet, CPNP also provides financial assistance through grocery vouchers.

“We provide food subsidies for those in need and for those travelling to Whitehorse to have a baby,” said Greer.

Dawson is a long way from a major hospital. That is why the community was chosen to host a CPNP office when the program was started nationally 10 years ago.

Outside, it is only available for families who live below the poverty line.

Not so in Dawson, said Greer.

“Everyone in the community was considered to have a challenge because they have to drive to Whitehorse, six hours away, to have a baby.”

But the town’s isolation is actually good for the new mothers, said Bassett, who has been in her position for six months.

“In tradition, people had to depend on one another, their neighbour, and so there was this much greater sense of community.

“People were helping each other and being a part of one another’s lives. That still exists here because many people still value traditional ways.